Shadow the Hedgehog Parody
by Tru Mel Meiko Mei Ling
Summary: Just a lil fic that pokes fun at Shadow's game.
1. Chapter 1 Westopolis

**A/N:** **Okay! I had planned to do this since January and started on it but got caught up in other fics and projects O.o Anyway, this whole fic is to poke fun at Shadow's game. It's not meant to bring anyone or any of the characters down. **

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters blah blah. Sega or Sonic Team, please hire me lol

--

Shadow the Hedgehog Parody Chapter One: Westopolis 

As the sun began its decent to the west, its faint, yet soothing warmth, basked the world below. Perched on a cliff spaciously adjacent from the sight, Shadow the Hedgehog stood contemplating while taking in the view. He had been so deep in thought that he didn't realize the thickness of the day's paper wrapping itself around his legs before it was whisked away into the wind.

'Shadow the Hedgehog…' he thought to himself, ignoring the paper blowing around him. 'Why does that name haunt me…? It's the only thing I can remember. And that gruesome image…'

**Flashback**—

Shadow and some blonde chick ran frantically hand and hand down a long corridor. They seemed to be fleeing from something or someone.

And within the blink of an eye, a loud shot tore through the air and struck its target, and then all Shadow saw was the limp frame of the girl fall to the floor. She whispered something to him, then the next thing he knew, they were separated and he was ejected into space.

**End Flashback**---

After the memory subsided, Shadow slowly rubbed his temples and looked towards the sky as if it would sympathize with him and his loss.

'…That girl…just who was she.. and why did we separate? Could something ever link us together again?"

At that moment the floating newspaper returned and flew right into his face.

'THE 50 YEAR RETURN OF THE BLACK COMET!' it read in all caps.

Aggravated, and completely being oblivious to its subliminal message, he grabbed it away and tossed it, only for it to come right back and stick to his face for a good three seconds. Swearing incoherently because of the paper practically going into his mouth, he pulled it off again and this time tore it straight down its middle. "Stupid human creation!" he snapped, then paused as he witnessed the once warm and soft surroundings malformed into a dark and irregular hue.

Swirling black clouds engulfed the now red sky and from its ashen depths, magnitudes of multiple creatures literally fell from the sky and swiftly began an onslaught against whatever lifeform other than themselves that got in their way.

This resulted in the humans engaging these 'black creatures' for no apparent or prepared reason, other than the presumed fact that the humans were quick to act to their planet being invaded.---supposedly.

Thus, a mindless war broke out on the streets of Westopolis that day, and peering down at it, as if being pinpointed of being in the middle of it all, Shadow shook his head and turned away from the sight. "Pathetic humans. I don't have time to stay here and watch this."

"**Shadow**…" a distant and deep wavering voice called to him. Stopping immediately in his steps, Shadow dared a look behind him.

And the moment his decision was made, a swirling mass of a form materialized before him and persuasively called his name.

In pure and utter confusion of what was going on and how this creature knew him, Shadow gave an awkward expression but stepped forward. "Who are you?"

Once the figure completely made itself known, one of its lengthy hands extended towards Shadow then curled into a fist. "**Find the seven Chaos Emeralds and bring them to me, as promised!**"

"What?" Shadow questioned raising an eyebrow. "What are you talking about and where did you come from?" As if directly on cue, another newspaper flew smack into his face again with the words BLACK COMET in blurred print from nearly sticking to his eyes. Completely ignoring the possible hint of a message the paper held, he growled and yanked it away from him, but before he could ask how the creature knew his name, it departed and Shadow found himself alone atop the cliff.

Distraught, confused, and a bit dazed from all the chaos, he took it upon himself to find the answers and took off into the city.

Out of nowhere, but from a presumably high up location, Shadow soon found himself airborne while free-falling face first into the city below. Murmuring something about a 'promised time', he leisurely collected rings and dodged aimless photon blasts.

Nearing the ground, he gracefully landed on his feet and looked around. The streets were in shambles and raging destruction was everywhere. Soldiers were firing at these silver and red creatures, while they punished the humans with their giant blocky arms.

Standing there in shock for a few moments, Shadow shook his head in disbelief and started making his way into the city when a large blast smacked a GUN soldier back—making him drop his weapon.

Seeing the situation as a risk free opportunity, Shadow smirked curtly and dashed over to the soldier, but stopped midway. Pausing, he looked to his right to behold a street sign.

Then he thought for a moment.

Gun…?

Or street-sign!

"Hmmmmmmmmm. Instant annihilation or continuous humiliation…? Such decisions…"

At that moment, a blue spiky blur came rushing upto Shadow, greeting him with familiarity. "Hey Shadow! Have you seen—"

"Quiet!" Shadow snapped back. "I'm deciding…"

"Huh?" Sonic questioned, in complete misunderstanding. "I don't get it. Anyway, let's go! We don't have time to stand here and think!"

"Sorry, I'm not you…"

Feeling like they were getting nowhere, Sonic groaned and pretended to sulk. "Whatever man, let's go!"

With a 'hmph', Shadow agreed and tore the street sign out the ground. "Just don't get in my way!"

Sonic laughed at this, as they started running down the sloped concrete. "Yeah? Just what could YOU do to me!"

Growing irritated by Sonic's upbeat personality, Shadow swung the sign low and clipped Sonic up in a split millisecond.

CLANG! 

"Whoop!" Sonic exclaimed, quickly catching himself then laughed again. "Very funny!"

Shadow scoffed. "I thought so too."

Sonic smirked mischievously at Shadow's comment, then returned his attention to what was in front of him and suddenly came to a halt. "Whoooa hold it! Look Shadow!"

Shadow followed suit and looked in the direction Sonic pointed. One of the creatures was pounding on a soldier, then grabbed ahold of a weapon of its own.

"It's another one of those BLACK CREATURES!" Sonic exclaimed.

Giving him an odd look, Shadow glanced towards the creature, then to himself, then to Sonic. "Are you BLIND!" Shadow vociferated, causing Sonic to jump.

"Yikes what is it Shadow!"

Throwing down his sign, Shadow stepped upto Sonic. "Look at me. I'M black. See? That alien lifeform over there is clearly SILVER. Just because it came from an unknown place and its beating up on human soldiers, don't make a stereotype out of things and life-forms you don't understand!"

Sonic was taken aback. "S-sorry Shadow. I didn't know you felt so strongly about that. Look! There's another one and it's beating up an officer!"

To that Shadow said nothing and shook his head. "Come on."

"I never thought I'd say this but, wait for me!" Sonic called, and took off behind him.

After heading a little ways, Sonic pointed to an encased Chaos Emerald. "Look Shadow! It's a chaos emerald!"

"I can see that, but what's it doing out here in the complete middle of nowhere?"

Sonic shrugged. "Don't ask me!"

Not bothering to argue, Shadow dodged a few bullets from the soldiers and attacks from the aliens, rammed into the soldiers and collected the emerald.

"Hey!" Sonic shouted "They're on our side!"

"Did you not see that! NOT IF THEY KEEP SHOOTIN' AT ME, THEY AREN'T!" Shadow roared, hopping on a spring that launched him upto a higher platform.

And there, a floating starfish-looking thing with a giant eye in the middle of it greeted him. Blinking twice, a low and deep wavering voice emitted from it. "It's about time, you made it here. From now on, my eye will be watching---"

But it didn't get a chance to finish. Shadow had already ran past it and proceeded to crash into both human and alien alike.

Seeing this, the floating starfish-thingy with the large eye in the middle shook with aggravation and shouted in a booming voice: "DO NOT AT-TACK OUR SOLIDAAUUHS!"

But of course, its threat fell on deaf ears.

"'S'cuse me!" Sonic called, running past the eye, causing it to spin and fly around aimlessly.

When he finally caught upto Shadow, he wondered why he stopped attacking the 'silver' creatures. "Hey Shadow, I wondered why you stopped attacking the 'silver' creatures?"

Shadow glared at him as he kicked a soldier down. "Because I felt like it. These pitiful humans have terrible aim and keep hitting me!"

"That's because you keep jumping in their way!"

"Blame the camera!"

"Huh?"

Scoffing, Shadow eyed Sonic sternly, then turned to his left as the shiny glimmer of a car caught his eye.

Sonic saw the car too and scratched his spiky head. "What's a nice jeep like this one doing out here in the middle of nowhere? It probably belongs to someone at GUN—but why only bring one of them? All the soldiers—that you attacked—couldn't have all fit in this tiny thing!"

"Who cares! I'm driving!" Shadow claimed, leaping in the driver's seat.

Watching him, Sonic stood near the back end of the vehicle. "Shadow, do you even know what you're doing or how to drive?"

As if to answer his question, Shadow threw the car into reverse and slammed on the gas, ultimately hitting Sonic.

"OUCH!" Sonic yelped, his whole body starting to flicker. "Watch it!" he cried, running up near the front of the car.

"Oops…" Shadow muttered, then a grin crept across his lips as an idea came to mind. And once Sonic had stopped flickering, Shadow floored the gas and ran into Sonic again, this time the 'right' way.

"OUCH!" Sonic cried and once again, began to flicker. Shadow chuckled as he could see right through Sonic everytime this happened.

"This is fun…"

Several minutes of Sonic torture later…

Shadow and Sonic had finally reached a goal ring, but Sonic warned him.

"I'm warning you Shadow!"

"Warning me of what?" he asked dryly.

"Uh...that we've still got some more numbers to go!"

"Numbers? You actually pay attention to the number count?"

"Uh YEAH. It's I dunno…KINDA important!"

Shadow chuckled. "Calm down. Can't you take a joke?"

Sonic shook his head, with a big grin on his face. "Not from you!"

They both shared a small laugh as they traveled over a speed ramp that launched them into the air.

Free-falling, between skyscrapers, the two of them dodged a series of laser attacks as well as a circling helicopter's blades.

"Hey there's a key!" Sonic exclaimed as he dropped past it.

"So grab it"

"I would, only I don't know what it's for, so I'll just forget about it for now." he decided.

Shadow sighed. "Why do I get the feeling we needed that key for something…and that we passed it already?"

Sonic shrugged. "Who knows! You'll be trekking through this city again! But somehow, I get the feeling that you aren't missing much…"

"Hmmm"

After finishing off the a few more of the soldiers, there was only one left.

Sonic tossed Shadow a strange look. "You know, if you really wanted to do this, I didn't have to come with you."

"You chose to follow me. I didn't ask you."

"Ohh excuse me! I was looking' out for you man!"

Shadow sighed and shook his head. "Suit yourself. I'm not going to argue." Then he paused and looked towards the sky. "…Haven't seen Rouge lately. She usually patrols the nights like this…with there being a full moon and all…"

Sonic shrugged. "So, why don't you ask her out?"

Not entirely hearing Sonic's words, Shadow responded to what he thought he heard. "I don't know… She doesn't like me in that way, does—" he abruptly stopped, realizing what he was saying and sharply turned away from Sonic. "Don't…don't ask me such things."

"Heey, you were the one thinking about her! Don't make your embarrassment MY fault!" Sonic added with a smirk.

The two of them stood there with their attention on the other and elsewhere, as the only remaining soldier walked back and forth between two crates as if no one was there and an airborne alien continued to circle above their heads.

Finally breaking the silence, Shadow turned to Sonic and opened his mouth to speak, but held his words as four signs dropped out of nowhere, hovering over Sonic's head.

The one furthest to the right read "Go this way if you want to be GOOD!"

The one in the middle read: "Go this way if you just don't care…"

One beneath it read: "Go THIS way if you want to quit."

And the one furthest to the left read: "Go THIS way if you want to be _BAD_ (ps. Rouge is this way)"

Seeing that, which the last parts seem to be written in her handwriting, Shadow looked to Sonic with a sly grin and dashed into the last soldier.

"Noooo!" Sonic cried, then shrugged. "I watched you the whole time you were attacking GUN anyway, so WHATEVER! See ya around!"

And with that, he leapt off the broken street and into another level.

Feeling right proud of himself, Shadow stood there with a grin for a few moments, then proceeded to head towards the direction of the left sign.

Then he remembered something "Damn. I forgot to get my useless key from that hedgehog. Oh well."

"Well Done, Shadow…" 


	2. Chapter 2 Digital Circuit

**A/N: This chapter was done while playing through the level, just like the first one was. But it turned out to be longer than I expected.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, they belong to Sega/Sonic Team.**

**-**

**Shadow the Hedgehog Parody**

Chapter 2:

_Digital Circuit_

For no apparent reason, upon taking the left path he suddenly found himself whizzing through multiple and colorful beams of light while tucked into a ball.

"What the…where am I!" he exclaimed, then paused in thought, upon realizing his odd surroundings somehow. "What is this sensation…? I feel weightless atop this light…"

After going around in a circle, he found out that he could maneuver left and right.

"…Why didn't I figure this out sooner?" he scolded himself.

Soon the trails of festive lights ejected him onto a platform.

Still not realizing where he actually was, Shadow took in his surroundings, and stopped short when he saw the floating-starfish-with-the-huge-eye-in-the-middle.

Ignoring it, he leapt onto a platform close to it to ram into a GUN machine and frowned when the only weapon it dropped was a machine gun. Scowling, he nonchalantly picked it up, mumbling something about 'no street signs'.

Taking out the other GUN machine in the area, he collected that weapon too, while half tuning out the eye as it spoke to him.

"**Shadow…"** it said lowly, floating around him as it did so, **"This is the high speed information highway that the humans call 'cyberspace'—"**

"Move it!" Shadow shouted, firing wildly at the eye as he sped past it—sending it into a spinning fit yet again.

"**Shad—you—I—will-when—I—get—my—hands—on--!"** it sputtered incoherently as it spun.

Once it regained itself, the eye shook with annoyance, then proceeded to follow Shadow. **"Shadow, you disobeyed me again!"** he grumbled.

Not realizing and certainly not caring, Shadow continued moving through cyberspace, attacking any GUN related machines he could find.

Soon he came to a ledge that had a really steep jump. Thinking of how he was going to get around it, a booming voice echoed in the corridor around them.

**"YOU DISOBEYDED MY ORDAUUUHS!"**

"What!" Shadow questioned, turning to face the eye, but got hit with a flying bullet from an enemy.

"Dammit!" he growled, losing some of his rings. Starting to flicker Shadow ran around trying to pick up the remainder of his rings.

"**IT DOES NOT MATTUH. YOU ONLY LOSE TEN AT A TIME ANYWAY."**

Glaring at the eye, he had to admit that he had a point.

After crossing a chasm on moving platforms, Shadow's speed picked up.

"She's here…" he muttered to himself. "Rouge!" he called and just as she heard her name, she elegantly turned around.

"Ohh Shadow, what a coincidence running into you here! You've got perfect timing…!" she cooed, sauntering upto him with her hands on her hips.

Shadow had stopped cold, watching her. It didn't occur to him that he was staring until she smiled sly at him. Shaking his head, he returned to being serious.

"What were you doing here, standing in the middle of nowhere?"

She winked at him. "Waiting for you."

He blushed. "Huh?"

She laughed, then turned away from him. "Actually I'm here on a top secret mission to find a Chaos Emerald…but..." she trailed off, turning in a sensual pose to face him. "…since you're already here, why don't the two of us look for it together?"

Shadow's heart began to race and he smirked. "Glad to be of help to you…"

Obliviously ditching Black Doom, Shadow eagerly went with Rouge.

Soon they reached a searchlight.

"In this place, your body is completely electronic, so you're weight is very light" Rouge informed. But Shadow was already way ahead of her, constantly jumping to reach the center of the searchlight's range. Seeing him attempt this several times and fail, Rouge sighed and shook her head. "Do you need any help?" she called.

"No, I'll get it!" Shadow replied, still jumping and missing the light.

Tired of seeing him struggle, Rouge walked over to him and once he landed, she grabbed his shoulders and gave him a little push. "Get closer to the edge!"

"What? Whoa!" he exclaimed, balancing himself on one foot. "Hey be careful! You almost knocked me off!"

"Now jump!"

Half-frowning, Shadow did so, but missed again. "See it didn't—ahh!" he cried, missing his step and plummeting into the dark depths below.

"DAMN! NOT HERE!" he yelled, flailing his arms and legs.

"Oops!" Rouge said, placing her fingers to her lips, feeling a tad guiltily. Nonchalantly, she watched as his extra life counter dropped a number.

"I hope he hit a save point before he found me." She whispered, then proceeded to backtrack to look for one.

Appearing back at the save point, Shadow jumped into the air twice—the shock of falling still with him.

"Rouge!" he shouted "Where are—"

"I'm right here. Sheesh. Do you have to yell? Anyway, let's keep going! We've got an emerald to catch!" she reminded, already running ahead of him.

Sighing, Shadow watched her get a head start, then followed after her at her speed. "Just don't get me killed in here."

"Relax. You've got 6 extra lives. Blame your fall on the camera."

"Hmph" Shadow half-smiled.

Soon, after finally getting through the searchlight, they reached a really steep platform. Peering down, Shadow was relieved when he saw something down there, but there was a problem.

"Rouge, can you help me get down there?"

"Why?"

"…The camera…I can tell something's down there for me to land on, but---I'd rather not take another 'leap of faith' "

She laughed. "Yeah yeah. Don't worry. Sonic has had his problems with leaps of faiths for the last 5 or 6 years. It's ALWAYS going to be there, Shadow!"

He shook his head. "Please don't say that…"

Laughing, Rouge took hold of his hands and took flight. Softly, they landed on another brightly lit platform.

"SAAVE POOOINT!" Shadow exclaimed, running over it, feeling so relieved when he heard the little sound it made. "Finally, a better location to come back to if anything---unexpected happens..." he stated with a dry smile, looking to Rouge.

Innocently, she looked away with her hands folded behind her. "I don't know what you mean… Look Shadow! A pole!" she said, pointing to one of the neon green poles around them,

Examining them from afar, Shadow raised an eyebrow and gazed over at Rouge, who was not doing her best to hold back snickers and chuckles.

He half-smiled. "You want to see me ride that pole don't you?"

She gasped and walked ahead of him. "Watch your language! Just go down instead."

His eyebrows perked up even more. "Do you mean that…?"

Catching onto what he meant, Rouge blushed, but laughed it off. "Hurry up and go, before I make you!"

Not knowing which sounded better, Shadow shrugged and jumped onto one of the poles. Grasping it tautly with his right hand and holding his gun in his left, he glanced up at Rouge, and motioned for her to come over.

"What?" she asked, suspiciously eyeing the big grin on his face.

"Payback!" Shadow shouted and snatched her up by the waist using his arm and slid down the pole amazingly fast.

"Kyyaaaaaahhhhh!" Rouge cried, but soon loved the thrill of it. "Yeah! Do it again!" she mused, giving him an alluring look.

Blinking twice, he forced himself to tear away from her gaze and set her down. "Let's just keep going."

"You got it!"

Passing through the firewalls, Shadow and Rouge soon came to another platform where a zigzag line of GUN Beetles hovered. Not sure to attack them around her or not, Shadow walked over to the colorful "?" to the right of them and listened as Rouge informed: "Use your homing attack to get across here."

"Are you sure?"

"Do you see any other way?"

Still feeling a bit unsure, Shadow peered down and saw a pack of aliens down below. Facing the GUN machines again, he grinned mischievously and began to use his homing attack on them to get to the other side. "Sorry Rouge!" he called, having a ball destroying them.

"Hey! Stop attacking our allies!" Rouge shouted.

"What! Make up your mind woman! First you tell me its okay, then you yell at me for doing something wrong!"

"Sorry. It's a bug. That can be fixed. Anyway, let's continue. We're almost there."

"Hmph."

"Be careful, there's another drop here Shadow, so watch out!" she warned playfully, snickering from the incident with the searchlight.

"Very funny. Maybe I should make you fall down there."

Smirking, she twitched her folded wings. "I can FLY remember. Besides. I won't be the one losing a life!" she replied with a beaming smile.

Shadow couldn't argue with that and simply shook his head. "Whatever, let's get this over with."

Later on, they came upon another searchlight.

"GUN's not gonna like it…but if we smash that mech, the light will shine over here and help us move on!"

"Got it" Shadow replied with a grin. Eagerly destroying the GUN beetle, he allowed the light to carry him into the next location, yet Rouge appeared upset.

"STOP ATTACKING OUR ALLIES! She shouted to him through the light.

"What! But you told me to attack it!"

"Oops, did it happen again? Sorry. It's that bug again!"

"Yeah sure, blame it on that. You know you told me to do that!"

Upon reaching another area with a ton of searchlights piled up and another circling GUN beetle, Rouge just shrugged and pointed to the beetle. "Trash it"

Confused, Shadow looked at her, looked at the mech, then up above. Nothing but a dark void looked back at him and he sighed.

"This area could have looked a bit more creative… Anyway, I am progressing through this place. Maybe at some point we can get out of this 'game'. "

Rouge looked to him thoughtfully, but didn't say anything.

So after smashing a mech, a searchlight scooped him up and took him to another bland and uncreative looking area where the same pattern was repeated.

"STOP ATTACKING OUR ALLIES! They're on our side!"

Tired of hearing that, Shadow tuned it out and kept going. This time when they were transported to a similar area, Shadow shot at the beetle, but misstepped his footing on a platform and fell into the depths of the uncreative-part-of-the-level.

"DAMN! Not here!" he exclaimed flailing his arms and legs and leaving his weapon behind.

"Shadow!" Rouge called as she watched him fall and saw the extra life counter drop another number. Groaning, she flew back to the last save point he marked. "Don't make a habit of this Shadow…"

FINALLY they reached the platform with the emerald and Rouge confirmed it eagerly.

"Look! There's the chaos emerald owned by the government!" she stated cheerfully as she generously went ahead of Shadow and collected a few rings for him.

Watching her, Shadow couldn't help but laugh and shake his head. "You're really something Rouge."

"I know!" she replied, with a wink. Shadow watched her with a small smile as he watched her run upto the platform and snag the emerald. "Come on!" she gestured, motioning for him to follow her.

When he did, she handed the chaos emerald to him. "Here. Great job back there. You deserved it."

Eyeing the emerald, he carefully took in into his hands and nodded to her. "Thank you. Sorry about this, but I'm taking this emerald. …I really hate to have to take this from you, though…"

"It's fine. You need it more than I do. Do your best Shadow…" then she playfully frowned, remembering all the GUN beetles he attacked. "…or your worst…whichever you want to call it."

He nodded and smirked, knowing what she meant. "You got it. Don't worry about me."

With a 'hmph' and a smile, she nodded and waved to him, flying off into another level. "See ya!"

Watching her go, the 4 signs dropped down in front of him again.

Go this way if you want to be _BAD_ (and not see Rouge until much much later)

Go this way if you still just don't care—just don't be shocked when you do

Go this way if you want to quit. (pick this one!)

Go this way if you want to be _GOOD_ (and still not see Rouge for a while 3 )

"Such decisions." Shadow muttered. Then nonchalantly, he chose a path and proceeded to follow it.

-

To sum up:

Rouge's comment to Shadow about the 'leaps of faith' going on for 5 or 6 years now with Sonic referred to his past few 3-d games starting with Sonic Adventure 1 & 2. How many times have YOU jumped for a ledge that turned out to not actually be there or slip off of it at the last second! Lol

The mentions about blaming things on the camera, is, well just that. The game's camera is a bit tricky at times.

Shadow's comment to Rouge about possibly getting out of the game was as direct as it sounded. Is there a way for them to get out of the game?

Catch ya on da flip siiide!

-Mel


	3. Chapter 3 Prison Island

**Shadow Parody Part 3:** _Prison Island_

Suddenly, out of nowhere and by no force seen or hinted to (until near the end of the game), Shadow materialized into the next level within a wavering glow of blue and white light.

Landing gracefully to the ground as the light dissipated from around him, Shadow opened his eyes and nonchalantly gazed over his surroundings—not bothering to wonder how he got there.

"Hmmm…" he pondered "I wonder if there are any chaos emeralds around here…" Chuckling to himself, he thought about how easy it was to get the first one in Westopolis.

It was right THERE, practically floating in the middle of nowhere.

Really, who keeps a rare and powerful jewel like that of a chaos emerald and place it in a ridiculous cage? And who keeps it stored there on a city not too far away from becoming ruins?!!

"Tch. That's not very bright. With that kind of luck, there may be another emerald just floating aimlessly around here for no other reason or purpose…" he smirked, clenching a fist. "If that's the case, I should find out the answers to my past in no time." Then he paused and thought for a moment. "But…why do I care?" Then he shrugged.

"Whatever" he muttered, taking a step, but as soon as he did, a slew of shrouded images held him in its mysterious grip.

"Ugghh!"

He saw…a confusing image that looked like a room and a machine with a lot of steam or smoke coming out of it.

Alarmed, Shadow took a step backwards. "What? …That's right I somehow escaped from this island. I was captured by those humans... But when…and…why?"

Realizing that asking himself questions and not answering back wasn't getting him very far, Shadow took a few steps forward, then he paused.

"…This place seem so familiar…" He then looked upwards and realized there was no sky—just a black void. "Hmmm…" Continuing on, he came across Doom's Eye.

Seeing Shadow break open a wooden crate with his bare hands and pick up a gun, the eye chuckled. "**Good. Annihilate those humans who dare stand to oppose me**!!"

Not paying the floating iris any mind, Shadow proceeded to step on the speed trap in front of him and traveled to the next platform.

And of course, the eye followed.

"**This base still holds the presence of the humans within it**…" he began to narrate, while Shadow carelessly began to fire at the flying beetles above him. Right when he shot one, Black Doom's voice suddenly cut off and began to overlap with saying something else.

"**Yeeess that's it. Show the humans your power**!"

"Why the hell do you keep following me?" Shadow inquired, turning around to face Doom's eye when a beetle shot him in the arm.

Swearing, Shadow began to flicker as he ran around trying to gather his rings back.

Around this same time, Charmy popped up and happily flew around Shadow's head.

"Hey Shadow!!! I GOTTA ASK you SOMETHIN'!"

"Can't it wait?!" Shadow snapped, busily trying to blast the remaining gun beetles in his way. But Charmy continued on. "Vector TOLD me that he wants me to find 5 TOP SECRET DISKS! But…what's a top SECRET disk?" he merrily asked, fluttering about in Shadow's face.

Aggravated, Shadow missed his aim on one of the gun mechs one purpose because Charmy had flown right in his line of fire.

"S#it! Get outta the way!" he yelled, swatting at Charmy as he skated off through the poorly designed flora around him.

Charmy gasped at the word Shadow had just spat at him and covered his mouth while following him. "Awww you can't say that! This game is rated E10+ you know!"

Stopping immediately, Shadow whisked around to glare at Charmy and aimed his gun right at his face.

"Whooaaa!" Charmy chirped happily at the sight as he came to a pause in his flight. "Wow Shadow you're so cool! You're like an action hero!"

Scoffing in annoyance, Shadow cocked the gun and shoved it closer to the ecstatic bee.

"If you value that horrendously grating voice of yours, then I suggest you keep your fuc#in mouth the hell shut!"

Realizing that Shadow meant business, Charmy gulped and nodded. "I got you…" he whined dejectedly with a pout. "I'll just have to find those disks myself then!!" he cheered and flew off. "Bye Shadow! It was way cool meeting you!!!" he called excitedly while waving.

Once he was gone, Shadow heaved a deep and heavy sigh of relief.

"Finally that's over…!"

"**Now go and attack those humans**!" Doom's Eye suddenly announced in a booming voice from behind Shadow.

Irritated as much as he was caught off guard, Shadow jumped back and started popping off shots wildly at the creature.

Moments later, Shadow breathed heavily as he reached a strange platform where this odd yellowish liquid flowed.

Sniffing lightly, his lips began to curl disgustedly at the awful stench and he covered his nose.

"Ugggh! What's causing that awful smell?!" he wondered. Still covering his nose, he took a few steps forward and peered down.

He noticed there was an alien standing on a hover disk. He would need to use that.

But as he got a closer look, he witnessed the creature relieving itself into the acidic stream. Well, guess that explains the color and the stench.

Stifling back a choked laugh, Shadow discreetly pumped two bullets into the alien and stole its ride.

"Hmm" he thought to himself, steadying his balance on the device, "So this can stay above that putrid liquid…but it doesn't jump very high. …Not like I would actually need it to anyway..."

Reaching a springing platform, Shadow used it to get to a higher part of the stage and proceeded to shoot nearly all the alien forms that he could see.

Shooting them down one by one, especially the little larvae, Shadow's heart skipped a beat as he realized the small spurts of green blood that spewed out from them.

He shuddered. "The color of the blood was censored from red to green…?? Then that means…." he trailed off, placing a hand to the fur on his chest. Did that mean that his blood was green too?

Shuddering in disgust, he thought for a moment and a large grin smoothed across his face.

"Fu#k the rating! I'm on a rampage!!!" And with those words, he proceeded through the stage, firing at whatever got in his way.

Of course, he ran into Charmy again, who was whining about not being able to find any of the disks, but Shadow was too busy shooting to care.

"Hey you can ride along that pipe!" Charmy squealed, and only to this did Shadow answer. "I'd prefer not to ride pipes, thank you."

"Whyyy? You rode a pole for Rouge, didn't youuuu?"

"What--!" Shadow gasped and began blasting at the bee, but missing on purpose. "GET OUT OF HERE!!"

"Yaaaaaahhhhh!!! See ya Shadow!"

Before long, Shadow reached a giant gold ring with a levitating emerald in the middle of it.

"Finally the emerald!" he exclaimed, dashing towards it when Doom's Eye suddenly appeared, shaking with vexation.

"**HOW DARE YOU FIRE AT ME**!!!"

"Shut UP!" Shadow vociferated, shooting at the creature again—but then suddenly his gun magically disappeared.

"What?!" he cried, looking to his hand in shock as Doom's Eye chuckled darkly.

"**Seems as if you ran out of ammunition**….! **NOW DO AS YOU'RE TOLD**!"

Irritated with this odd turn of events, and the game itself, Shadow scoffed and pushed past Doom's Eye. "I don't take orders…!"

Watching him intently, Doom's Eye chuckled again. "**Maybe not from your own flesh and blood**…**but perhaps from another**…"

Shadow stopped in his steps and turned to him. "My own flesh and blood? What?"

"**You will find out in time. Now, do as you please, Shadow**… **And farewell for now**…" he added in a gruff voice before floating off.

"What…?" Shadow pondered, standing there, still wallowing in the suspense. "…Could that mean…that he knows something I don't?"

Shadow thought over his redundant question again.

"Perhaps the Professor was not the only one who had a hand in creating me…Could that insipid looking floating eye possibly know who that other person was?"

Turning around slowly, Shadow eyed the emerald as it continued to hover in mid-air.

It was a sparkly emerald too!

Smiling faintly at its luster, Shadow wondered if a certain someone would go crazy over its lustrous shine and grabbed it.

"Three emeralds down…four more to go…! It shouldn't be long now!"

And with that, the level suddenly disappeared and Shadow fell through a black void---into the next level as it loaded.


End file.
